NPR 2010-05-22

Louisiana's starting to see more oil spill damage. People predict it would happen since last month's rig explosion. Authorities shut down public beaches on a resort island community south of New Orleans today as thick oil moves in. Governor Bobby Jindal says the oil is already affecting ecologically fragile marshes¹.

"We've got heavy oil that's coming up to those wetlands. You look at NOAA's projections²; they're showing that oil is coming west of the river. It's only a matter of time before we begin to see even more oil here in Terrebonne, here in Timbalier Bay."

BP's setting up an operation to pump heavy mud into the top of a blown-out well deep undersea that's been gushing³ thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day.

President Obama is ordering federal agencies to start development of national mileage⁴ and emission⁵ standards for vehicles, including, for the first time, big rig and work trucks.

"Today, we're going even further, proposing the development of a national standard for medium and heavy-duty trucks, just as we did for cars and light trucks."

President Obama calling for more fuel efficiency in vehicles at a ceremony in the Rose Garden today.

A court ruled that three detainees at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan may not challenge their captivity⁶ in US courts. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports the ruling hands the Obama administration a big victory.

The federal appeals court in Washington says allowing Bagram detainees to challenge their detention⁷ presents too many practical obstacles. The court rules the airbase and all of Afghanistan are still war zones. Here's why this decision is a victory for the White House. The Justice Department has been fighting for years to keep Bagram off-limits to American courts. The government says it needs a place to hold terrorism suspects. It considers too dangerous to release. And a civilian⁸ court could order release against the government's wishes. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.

In Germany, lawmakers are backing a series of measures in hopes of propping⁹ up the struggling euro and helping¹⁰ European countries weigh down with huge amounts of debt. We have more on this from Thomas Marzahl in Berlin.

The hugely unpopular rescue package could end up costing German taxpayers¹¹ $184 billion, and that's on top of another major bailout for Greece passed just two weeks ago. Chancellor¹² Angela Merkel had appealed for cross-party support. Instead, a dozen members of her own conservative coalition¹³ either abstained¹⁴ or voted 'no'. That outcome is not seen as a vote of confidence in the German leader whose poll numbers have dropped in recent weeks. Most Germans are against helping what they deem free-spending European neighbors, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain. Merkel, meanwhile, wants investors¹⁵ to pay for the crisis as well. She is pushing G20 governments to enact¹⁶ a global tax on financial transactions. For NPR News, I'm Thomas Marzahl in Berlin.

Up triple digits¹⁷ in the final minutes on Wall Street, at last check, the Dow was up more than 125 points at 10,194. NASDAQ up 25 at 2,229.

This is NPR.

Texas Board of Education may vote today on a series of curriculum changes, triggering a mix of support and outrage¹⁸ among educators across the country. Critics say conservative board members are putting their stamp on measures to amend¹⁹ or water down what's taught in social studies and history. One proposal suggests the nation's founders²⁰ might not have wanted the separation of church and state. Grapevine, Texas' resident, Terrien Kelly, supports it.

"I think separation of church and state we don't find it anywhere in our laws. You know, it's not actually in our constitution."

Opponents rallied outside the meeting today.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wants North Korea to be held responsible for sinking a South Korean warship²¹. As Doualy Xaykaothao reports from Seoul, tension on the Korean Peninsula has been dominating Clinton's week-long trip to Asia.

After meeting with Japan's foreign minister, Clinton told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea's provocative²² actions have consequences. She said South Korea's investigation²³ which included US, UK and other nations proved North Korea torpedoed²⁴ the South's warship. Clinton added there must be an international response to this attack on South Korea. North Korea denies any involvement and offered to send its own team of investigators²⁵ to Seoul. South Korea has yet to agree to this. And Friday morning, its president held an emergency meeting with his National Security Council to consider countermeasures to the North's attack. After meetings with officials in Japan, Clinton heads to China and then travels to South Korea next week. For NPR News, I'm Doualy Xaykaothao in Seoul.

At least 22 people are dead and more than 50 injured from a car bombing in northern Iraq today. The attack was in Khalis where a similar bombing killed dozens two months ago.
 

1 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

3 gushing   

adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话

参考例句：

• blood gushing from a wound 从伤口冒出的血
• The young mother was gushing over a baby. 那位年轻的母亲正喋喋不休地和婴儿说话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 mileage   

n.里程，英里数；好处，利润

参考例句：

• He doesn't think there's any mileage in that type of advertising.他认为做那种广告毫无效益。
• What mileage has your car done?你的汽车跑了多少英里？

5 emission   

n.发出物，散发物；发出，散发

参考例句：

• Rigorous measures will be taken to reduce the total pollutant emission.采取严格有力措施，降低污染物排放总量。
• Finally,the way to effectively control particulate emission is pointed out.最后，指出有效降低颗粒排放的方向。

6 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

9 propping   

支撑

参考例句：

• You can usually find Jack propping up the bar at his local. 你常常可以看见杰克频繁出没于他居住的那家酒店。
• The government was accused of propping up declining industries. 政府被指责支持日益衰败的产业。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

12 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

13 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

14 abstained   

v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票）

参考例句：

• Ten people voted in favour, five against and two abstained. 十人投票赞成，五人反对，两人弃权。
• They collectively abstained (from voting) in the elections for local councilors. 他们在地方议会议员选举中集体弃权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

16 enact   

vt.制定(法律)；上演，扮演

参考例句：

• The U.S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation.美国国会是唯一有权颁布联邦法律的。
• For example,a country can enact laws and economic policies to attract foreign investment fairly quickly.例如一个国家可以很快颁布吸引外资的法令和经济政策。

17 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

18 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

19 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

20 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

21 warship   

n.军舰，战舰

参考例句：

• He is serving on a warship in the Pacific.他在太平洋海域的一艘军舰上服役。
• The warship was making towards the pier.军舰正驶向码头。

22 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

23 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

24 torpedoed   

用鱼雷袭击（torpedo的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her comments had torpedoed the deal. 她的一番话使得那笔交易彻底告吹。
• The battle ship was torpedoed. 该战列舰遭到了鱼雷的袭击。

25 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》